Death penalty a FLAWED tool to tackle crime

[webfact]

COMMENT
Death penalty a FLAWED tool to tackle crime
JOSEF BENEDICT
THE JAKARTA POST
ASIA NEWS NETWORK

JAKARTA: -- Last November, shortly after taking office, Indonesia President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo announced the resumption of executions - mainly of drug traffickers - to tackle soaring crime rates linked to a "national drugs emergency".

The many of us who had hoped his presidency would mean a new era for human rights were deeply disappointed.

The news of six executions this year - and dozens more lives apparently at imminent risk - has confirmed our worst fears.

A dark trend was starkly evident last year - governments using the death penalty in a misguided, and often cynical, attempt to tackle crime and terrorism.

Amnesty International has released its annual review of the death penalty worldwide, and much of it makes for grim reading.

In Pakistan, the government lifted a six-year moratorium on the execution of civilians in the wake of the horrific Taleban attack on a school in Peshawar last December.

More than 50 people have been put to death since, and the government has threatened to send thousands more death row prisoners to the gallows.

Iran and Iraq were among other countries to execute people for "terrorism" last year, while other states made moves in that direction by expanding the scope of capital crimes in their penal codes.

In a year when abhorrent summary executions by armed groups were branded on the global consciousness like never before, it is appalling that governments are themselves resorting to more executions in a knee-jerk reaction to terrorism.

Like Indonesia, other states made use of executions in similarly flawed attempts to address - or appear to address - crime rates.

Jordan ended an eight-year moratorium in December, putting 11 murder convicts to death, with the government saying it was a move to end a surge in violent crime.

Governments using the death penalty to tackle crime and security threats are either deceiving themselves and the public or, in some cases, cynically attempting to look effective by executing people.

But there is no evidence that the threat of execution is more of a deterrent to crime than a prison sentence.

This fact has been confirmed in multiple studies in many regions around the world, including by the UN.

While the death penalty is always a human rights violation, there are many issues in Indonesia - in particular around fair trial concerns - that make its use especially troubling.

Investigations by human rights groups have found that individuals sentenced to death have been tortured and forced to sign police investigation reports.

Many are not provided with lawyers, in particular after arrest and during interrogation.

Widespread reports of corruption in the police and judiciary and Indonesia's decades-old penal code - which does not provide adequate protection from torture, for example - compound these issues.

One recently uncovered case involved Yusman Telaumbanua, from Nias island, who was only 16 when he was arrested and sentenced to death for murder, despite both international and national law banning the imposition of the death penalty against juveniles.

A local human rights group exposed how Yusman had been tortured into a "confession" by police, who also allegedly fabricated his age.

With so many questions around the fairness of trials in Indonesia, how can the government be sure that innocent people will not be put to death?

It is high time that world leaders, including Jokowi, stop using the death penalty as a response when times get tough.

The death penalty is not the solution to crime and terrorism. Its use does not make us safer.

Thankfully, most of the world appears to have come around to this fact.

In 1945, when the UN was founded, only eight countries had abolished the death penalty; today 140 states are abolitionist in law or practice.

Last year, Amnesty International recorded executions in 22 countries around the world - almost half the number or 41 just 20 years ago.

Despite the troubling developments we recorded in 2014, there was still much good news.

The number of executions dropped significantly compared to 2013, from 778 to 607.

However, this number does not include China, where more people are put to death than the rest of the world put together, but with death penalty statistics treated as a state secret, the true figure is impossible to determine.

Those governments that still execute need to realise that they are on the wrong side of history, and join the vast majority of countries who have dropped the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

Campaigning for an end to the death penalty remains an uphill task, but Amnesty International and many others are determined to make the world free of this punishment.

By this time next year, we hope we will have even more good news to report, and that no more people will have been put before the firing squad in Indonesia.

JOSEF BENEDICT is Amnesty International's Indonesia campaigner.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Death-penalty-a-FLAWED-tool-to-tackle-crime-30257522.html

-- The Nation 2015-04-07

[ezzra]

In this world, there are defected and broken human beings, like a lemon car, that what ever you

do to ix it it still won't work and you need to junk it to the scarp hip, so are those badly designed

humans, if you don't want to kill them, that find a way that they will not burden society ever again,

banished them to some asteroid orbiting some star....

[maidee]

still talking about major drug dealers, 8 kg of hero

how many lives did they destroy for the love of money ?

if you can't stand the heat... get out of the kitchen

if you like high risks, that can cost your life in many countries, that go for it ... no need to be a cry baby afterwards

8 kg of hero in a european country, mhh, maybe you get a few years, maybe

[khwaibah]

Major dose of lead poison.

[Seastallion]

Death penalty may be a flawed tool against crime, but it is an excellent tool to rid society of rubbish.

[Grouse]

Astonishing number of Nazi folks on here.......

I have no sympathies with drug dealers but execution is just uncivilised.

[soumanioco]

Roughly, human societies have gone through three stages of justice: first, where it ensured a certain equality, for example, steal - your property confiscated. Secondly, the excessive up to irrational rigor, eg, stealing horse - awaits the gallows. Thirdly, the stage of mild performance justice, for example, you killed - spend time in prison. The first two stages are in the past (unless we are talking about Iran-type situations, especially with regard to the second). But the latter is more or less the situation we are in today and this is clearly a conquest of civilized, organized societies, where the emphasis is (theoretically at least, and not without many serious problems) prevention and restoration to society ( through training, education) and not exclusively on punishment.

That being said I still believe there are crimes that fit the capital punishment.

[Suffinator]

Long has there been strong evidence that that death penalty is NOT a deterrent on crime. Although I'm an advocate of the death penalty I will admit, looking at lots of the research, that it appears that the death penalty will never stop certain people from committing even the most heinous of crimes.

However, ultimately the death penalty prevents the individual from ever being able to re-offend and saves the taxpaying public of having to keep those incarcerated and in most cases for life. When you look at the US and UK for instance such criminals live a life of luxury compared to the hard-working taxpayer.

I'll continue to support the death penalty and hope that it will provide a second thought to those who intend to commit a crime that is punishable by the death penalty.

[Oziex1]

Problem here is simple, who is putting them to death a group of very corrupt people I'm sure from the Judges to the army guys pulling the trigger.

The war on drugs is not being won, what is the answer?

[rotary]

Astonishing number of Nazi folks on here.......

I have no sympathies with drug dealers but execution is just uncivilised.

If your a good shot its not uncivilized

[Bernard Flint]

Astonishing number of Nazi folks on here.......

I have no sympathies with drug dealers but execution is just uncivilised.

So you would not be this so called nazi, if your daughter died of a heroin overtdose, or someone murdered her, god forbid. I know what i would want to do, uncivilised for you though?????

Is it not uncivilised to be a nonce, or a pedo, murder kiddies???

Take the lot out now, give me a gun and bullet, i can do free

Edited April 7, 2015 by Bernard Flint

[Bernard Flint]

Problem here is simple, who is putting them to death a group of very corrupt people I'm sure from the Judges to the army guys pulling the trigger.

The war on drugs is not being won, what is the answer?

The answer is exicute more

[DLock]

Puff opinion piece.

He is partially correct however. The death penalty does not seem to be much of a deterrent.

The reason is that it is used so sparingly. Only 6 executions? Try 6,000 executions and see if it has an effect.

I am an advocate of the death penalty. They just need to speed up the process and reduce the legal options for specific crimes.

Fire up Old Sparky and send them in single file.

[Daniel Ingalls]

....."A death penalty does not stop crime or terrorism, does not make the public safer". I tell you what, by killing a terrorist we can feel certain he will not continue on terrorizing the public. Their brains are so manipulated to killing, it can not be patronized. Drug dealers destroy lives, Child molesters, Rapist, and plain murderers all need to be liquidated. Jails, and prisons only harden first timers, to continue on with their devious careers. Repeated offenders should be eliminated period.

I am a firm believer in capital punishment. Should be televised on TV. Those on death row should have the option to donate a kidney, a lung, or heart transplant for those waiting for replacements. First to go will be eye transplants. Let their wasted lives serve something useful to society for a change.

I would like to pick an Island somewhere far away from any continent, with gun boats on constant patrol around the island. Set them free to feud for themselves. An Island with no shelter, not trees, nothing available to build a raft of any kind. Strip them down, no shoes, no tools, let them return to a wild state of barbarianism. This is what both men and woman have in store for them. Those who want to destroy a decent society, this is what they will get! Don't obey the rules, this is what you get. Destroy young lives, this is what you get. Now if this isn't a deterrent to crime.......then we will never be free of it!

Edited April 7, 2015 by Daniel Ingalls

[Oziex1]

Problem here is simple, who is putting them to death a group of very corrupt people I'm sure from the Judges to the army guys pulling the trigger.

The war on drugs is not being won, what is the answer?

The answer is exicute more

Good one Bernie, you seem to miss the point the nobodies face the firing squad the kingpins do not.

[petermik]

Astonishing number of Nazi folks on here.......

I have no sympathies with drug dealers but execution is just uncivilised.

Tell that to the countless number of families that have lost loved ones to repeat manslaughter/murderers.

[Smokin Joe]

Long has there been strong evidence that that death penalty is NOT a deterrent on crime. Although I'm an advocate of the death penalty I will admit, looking at lots of the research, that it appears that the death penalty will never stop certain people from committing even the most heinous of crimes.

However, ultimately the death penalty prevents the individual from ever being able to re-offend and saves the taxpaying public of having to keep those incarcerated and in most cases for life. When you look at the US and UK for instance such criminals live a life of luxury compared to the hard-working taxpayer.

I'll continue to support the death penalty and hope that it will provide a second thought to those who intend to commit a crime that is punishable by the death penalty.

I agree. Although it may not deter someone else from committing the same crime it will make sure they never commit it a second time.

Recidivism rate for offenders receiving the death penalty is a very respectable 0%.

The courts better be damn sure the person put to death is guilty though.

[elgordo38]

In this world, there are defected and broken human beings, like a lemon car, that what ever you

do to ix it it still won't work and you need to junk it to the scarp hip, so are those badly designed

humans, if you don't want to kill them, that find a way that they will not burden society ever again,

banished them to some asteroid orbiting some star....

We as humans should not just have a right to live on the planet it should be earned. We that abide by the laws feel that we should not have to pay for expensive trials and incarceration for life of people who basically have forfeited their rights to live on the planet because they want to kill, rape, sell drugs and other nefarious crimes. China has the right idea a 25 cent bullet to the head forget all the fancy lethal injections etc. The planet is getting crowded would all the bad people please get off.

[elgordo38]

Astonishing number of Nazi folks on here.......

I have no sympathies with drug dealers but execution is just uncivilised.

Quit Grousing about it. Your in the 21st century.

[elgordo38]

....."A death penalty does not stop crime or terrorism, does not make the public safer". I tell you what, by killing a terrorist we can feel certain he will not continue on terrorizing the public. Their brains are so manipulated to killing, it can not be patronized. Drug dealers destroy lives, Child molesters, Rapist, and plain murderers all need to be liquidated. Jails, and prisons only harden first timers, to continue on with their devious careers. Repeated offenders should be eliminated period.

I am a firm believer in capital punishment. Should be televised on TV. Those on death row should have the option to donate a kidney, a lung, or heart transplant for those waiting for replacements. First to go will be eye transplants. Let their wasted lives serve something useful to society for a change.

I would like to pick an Island somewhere far away from any continent, with gun boats on constant patrol around the island. Set them free to feud for themselves. An Island with no shelter, not trees, nothing available to build a raft of any kind. Strip them down, no shoes, no tools, let them return to a wild state of barbarianism. This is what both men and woman have in store for them. Those who want to destroy a decent society, this is what they will get! Don't obey the rules, this is what you get. Destroy young lives, this is what you get. Now if this isn't a deterrent to crime.......then we will never be free of it!

Well no one else pushed the "Like" so I will. I think your solution is "Dead on" Lets call it Jurassic Park Exit for criminals.

[Jonmarleesco]

'... it is appalling that governments are themselves resorting to more executions in a knee-jerk reaction to terrorism ... ... Like Indonesia, other states made use of executions in similarly flawed attempts to address - or appear to address - crime rates.' Is it knee-jerk? Or is it your assessment that deserves that description.

Frankly, the flaw is not the death penalty itself - any half-intelligent terrorist, or drug courier, or any other representative of the crimes exacting it, can hardly claim ignorance (itself, no excuse) - but the possibility of the wrong individual being executed.

In truth, most people would probably wear prison sentences for the perpetrators of such crimes - terrorists excluded - if governments made sure they were served in full, and well away from the laps of luxuries. But they don't ...

[Grouse]

As I say, too many uncivilised types on here.

The civilised world got rid of execution years ago.

Just look at statistics about crime and punishment. See if you infer anything

I'll get my coat now....

[Basil B]

One recently uncovered case involved Yusman Telaumbanua, from Nias island, who was only 16 when he was arrested and sentenced to death for murder, despite both international and national law banning the imposition of the death penalty against juveniles.

A local human rights group exposed how Yusman had been tortured into a "confession" by police, who also allegedly fabricated his age.

Something our "Hang em High" brigade do not care about.

[Grouse]

....."A death penalty does not stop crime or terrorism, does not make the public safer". I tell you what, by killing a terrorist we can feel certain he will not continue on terrorizing the public. Their brains are so manipulated to killing, it can not be patronized. Drug dealers destroy lives, Child molesters, Rapist, and plain murderers all need to be liquidated. Jails, and prisons only harden first timers, to continue on with their devious careers. Repeated offenders should be eliminated period.

I am a firm believer in capital punishment. Should be televised on TV. Those on death row should have the option to donate a kidney, a lung, or heart transplant for those waiting for replacements. First to go will be eye transplants. Let their wasted lives serve something useful to society for a change.

I would like to pick an Island somewhere far away from any continent, with gun boats on constant patrol around the island. Set them free to feud for themselves. An Island with no shelter, not trees, nothing available to build a raft of any kind. Strip them down, no shoes, no tools, let them return to a wild state of barbarianism. This is what both men and woman have in store for them. Those who want to destroy a decent society, this is what they will get! Don't obey the rules, this is what you get. Destroy young lives, this is what you get. Now if this isn't a deterrent to crime.......then we will never be free of it!

Well no one else pushed the "Like" so I will. I think your solution is "Dead on" Lets call it Jurassic Park Exit for criminals.

We did that,

It's called Australia

[7by7]

One of, if not the, most compelling arguments against capital punishment is that it simply does not work as a deterrent.

Murderers fall roughly into three groups:-

• Crimes of passion; committed in the heat of the moment with no thought of the consequences. I'd put the mentally deranged, such as the German pilot, into this group, too.
• Terrorists, who don't care about the consequences. If anything, as has been seen far too often, they want to be killed as martyrs to their cause.
• Professional criminals who do not expect to get caught; and very often aren't. I'd put drug dealers into this group.

Then there is also the question of wrongful convictions. Executed But Possibly Innocent gives some US examples.

Whenever this subject comes up I am reminded of Derek Bentley.

Hanged on 28th January 1953 for the murder of PC Sidney Miles during an attempted burglary; even though he was already under arrest when Christopher Craig fired the shot which killed Miles.

Bentley was over 18, although he was known to have a much lower mental age, and so was hanged.

Craig, the actual killer, was 16, so was not hanged. Instead he was 'detained at Her Majesty's pleasure' and released after serving 10 years.

Is that justice?

Bentley's family didn't think so, and after a long campaign he was finally pardoned in 1993, and his conviction quashed in 1998. Sadly neither his parents nor his sister lived to see him exonerated.

If those who support the death penalty can guarantee 100% that an innocent person will never be executed, then maybe I'll support them. Until then; no.

[bunple]

Dont look at a prison sentence or the death penalty as a deterrent, simply look at it as punishment for the crime committed.

[Credo]

I am not a fan of the death penalty, but I can't get too excited one way or the other. I have done some work in a prison and I know that some of those who had life sentences (there was no death penalty), were very expensive to house because they were very violent people and required extreme care. At least one of them had managed to kill another inmate and another one had severely injured a guard.

They could never be rehabilitated. They could never, or better never, be released on society and they were even a major danger within the prisons themselves. A lot of resources to take care of a few very violent prisoners that might go for rehabilitating others.

They were little less than animals. If they were a dog or a wild animal, they would be put down.

[Mosha]

A pity Brady and Hindley were not caught a few months earlier.

[Bernard Flint]

Problem here is simple, who is putting them to death a group of very corrupt people I'm sure from the Judges to the army guys pulling the trigger.

The war on drugs is not being won, what is the answer?

The answer is exicute more

Good one Bernie, you seem to miss the point the nobodies face the firing squad the kingpins do not.

Thekingpins get killed by dawn raids. I would not call them nobodies, some very rich drug sellers about

[Chris Lawrence]

Thailand can put those two Burma men to death for the crime of the two English backpackers. But did they do it. Once you kill them, you can't bring them back. All courts and tribunals answer to one master at the moment. Political?

'In Pakistan, the government lifted a six-year moratorium on the execution of civilians in the wake of the horrific Taleban attack on a school in Peshawar last December.

More than 50 people have been put to death since, and the government has threatened to send thousands more death row prisoners to the gallows.'

Now that has put an end to Taleban attacks?

When you have a moratorium, you can look back to see what the murder rate was. If it doesn't change, capital punishment hasn't had the desired effect.

Many on death row are poor people. The people who can afford legal teams seem to beat death sentences.

The cost of defending someone on death row can be very high. This is usually paid by the state. Sometimes cheaper to lock people up for the rest of their lives.

Controversial subject.